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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27247492">𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝘼𝙨 𝙄𝙘𝙚</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thotdara/pseuds/Thotdara'>Thotdara</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Death, Gotham University, Hallucinations, Horror, Psychological Horror</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:49:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27247492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thotdara/pseuds/Thotdara</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Another work with one of my OC's.</p>
<p>Staying late at Gotham University, Josef finishes up some work while worrying about his fellow colleague and friend Jonathan Crane, who has been dismissed from the university after an experiment gone wrong. But what Josef doesn't know is that his "friend" is a whole lot closer than he realizes.</p>
<p>After inhaling fear toxin, Josef's whole world crumbles.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝘼𝙨 𝙄𝙘𝙚</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first ever fear toxin story, so I hope it's okay! I just wrote it on a whim around Halloween last year but never got around to posting it until now.</p>
<p>Anyway, hopefully you guys can enjoy it. I apologize I any of these translations are inaccurate,,,,</p>
<p>Translations in order:</p>
<p>Verzeih mir, bitte verzeih mir= forgive me, please forgive me</p>
<p>Liebling: darling/honey/term of endearment</p>
<p>Schatzi: diminutive form for "Schatz" which means "treasure" and essentially means "sweetheart". Another term of endearment.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was the same as every night during the after hours. Josef sat in his silent office, the small lamp on his desk casting a dim yellow light, the only sound being the rapid typing of his keyboard or the scribbling of a pen as he tries to finish grading student papers and answer his long list of emails.</p>
<p>The glow of the computer screen reflects in his tired blue eyes, he blinks, and the dry feeling behind his eyelids makes him decide he should stop for a bit. After finishing a final sentence, Josef takes a small break. His shoulders slump as he sits hunched over his desk with his eyes now closed and his face in his hands, letting fingers comb through his hair.</p>
<p>He lets out a long sigh before he lifts his head again moments later, dragging a hand down his cheek. His eyes flicker between the computer screen and his cell phone on the other side of the desk, subconsciously chewing at his bottom lip out of nervous habit, his brows furrowed a bit like he's deep in thought. Like he's trying to make a difficult decision.</p>
<p>There wasn't any real reason to still be at work. By now, he could have easily gone home hours ago, enjoy some dinner and a hot shower, then crawl into bed; preferably not having to toss and turn all night, stressing about one thing or another, worrying about how Gotham University handled the situation with his once fellow colleague, Jonathan Crane, and wondering where the man was right now. It's been on Josef's mind for days.</p>
<p>He may not have agreed at all with what Jonathan had done-- firing a loaded weapon in a classroom full of students to prove a point of what he was trying to teach, and instead accidentally wounding one of them-- but deep down, both as a psychologist and also a dear friend, Josef had his concerns for him.</p>
<p>For what was multiple times that night, he gave in and grabbed his phone to check messages, scrolling back up to the first text he originally sent. For every message, he'd wait a full day or two before he sent another. Still, there was never any reply.</p>
<p>{Text: Jonathan}<br/>
𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞. 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞</p>
<p>{Text: Jonathan}<br/>
𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡</p>
<p>{Text: Jonathan}<br/>
𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐉𝐨𝐧</p>
<p>{Text: Jonathan}<br/>
𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞</p>
<p>Rereading the older messages gripped Josef with a feeling of sadness and disappointment. He still didn't know if Jonathan was even alive. That wasn't a thought he wanted to consider, though, since it had only been a few days, but lately, it's all he can think about. He wrote one more message.</p>
<p>{Text: Jonathan}<br/>
𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩. 𝐈𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞</p>
<p>After pressing send, Josef put his phone aside on the desk again, trying to keep it out of sight, so he didn't feel the need to check it. He goes back to his computer after that, sitting upright in his seat again. He decided he'd finally head home in a few more minutes.</p>
<p>It feels like an eternity before he finished his last couple of replies to emails. It's when he's in the middle of closing all the browser windows, seconds away from shutting his computer down, that he's met with this odd smell.</p>
<p>Something metallic?</p>
<p>No, that couldn't be right. Josef is far too exhausted, and the scent is so faint that he didn't give it any thought. He quickly brushed it off, not paying any mind to it as he finished shutting his computer down, tidying up his desk, gathering papers and folders to put them back inside the small filing cabinet neatly.</p>
<p>Unknowingly, he's been inhaling a toxin. The gas was close to unnoticeable unless you already knew the signs of it. At this rate, however, even if he were to detect it now, it was already too late for Josef.</p>
<p>He needs to sit back down in his seat after closing the filing cabinet, resting his head in his hands again to combat the sluggish, somewhat nauseous feeling he's struck with all of a sudden. His first thought is to blame it on the lack of sleep, all of the stress he's been under, but there's this coppery taste in his mouth he doesn't recognize, and the same strange smell from earlier has grown stronger, taking over all of his senses until it's all he can focus on.</p>
<p>Slowly, as if dripping like molasses, everything begins to spiral, including his perception of reality. He coughs into his hand when it feels like he suddenly can't swallow right, this dryness in the back of his throat. There's sweat breaking out along his hairline as his heart rate and blood pressure steadily rise, the amount of adrenaline in his body only climbing higher and higher with it. His chest eventually starts to feel tight, and it's like he can barely breathe, his breaths coming fast and shallow now. For a brief moment of actual clarity, he suspected it as a panic attack.</p>
<p>Everything was fine moments ago. None of this made any logical sense to him. Nothing had happened. At least nothing major that could have abruptly brought this reaction upon him. His mind is muddled, his surroundings blurring in and out, despite the acute panic coursing through his veins. He shifted in his seat, placing his palm flat on the desk as a way to help steady himself while he attempted to stand on his feet carefully. He thought he'd be fine, he could do this, until--</p>
<p>"... Josef."</p>
<p>His body goes perfectly still while in the middle of trying to stand, every muscle in his body locking up. Josef lands right back in his seat but manages to catch some of his weight with a hand on the armrest as he goes down.</p>
<p>That wasn't-- it couldn't be who he thought it was.</p>
<p>"... Josef." The voice said again, her voice. His late wife-- Charlotte. It sounded so soft, somewhat muted, and far away as if he were half asleep. "Why?" Her voice asked calmly, slowly like she had trouble with speech, sounding slurred but otherwise exactly as gentle as he remembers her. "Why did you not help me?"</p>
<p>This wasn't real. It couldn't be, he thought, it was just a dream. He was sleeping. He had to be. He fell asleep at his desk, right? But Josef had never felt so paralyzed with fear, his pulse skyrocketing, the dread that claws at him feeling all too real and alive.</p>
<p>His hands come up to cover his ears as he lowers his head, his body curling in on himself. He squeezes his eyes shut. "It's not real..." He tells himself under his breath, brows furrowed a bit. "You're dreaming. It's another nightmare. Just wake up, wake up and-"</p>
<p>"Liebling, please, please come open the door for me."</p>
<p>With hands still over his ears, Josef lifts his head, and his wide, frightened eyes immediately shift to his office door. He likes to keep it locked whenever he knows he's going to be staying late.</p>
<p>"It's... cold." Charlotte sounds like less of this slow, far away echo, and just a bit closer now. "It's cold. I'm so cold."</p>
<p>The locked doorknob is slowly moving now, turning barely halfway until it's unable to go any further. Then someone is trying to pull on it, carefully twisting back and forth. Not forcefully, but Josef can hear it from where he's sitting.</p>
<p>"Why did you not help me?" She repeated, her tone now bordering on desperate. "Why didn't you help me, Josef? Why?"</p>
<p>"You--" Josef's voice cracks the second he says it, and it's like something snaps inside of him. Something already so tender and fragile, like it was fine glass that could shatter at any given moment. He clenches his jaw and tries to hold it all in, tries to resist letting any sign of that weakness come through. It's not enough.</p>
<p>Everything comes with no warning. Tears spill down his face as he lowers his head again and shuts his eyes, a tremor running through his body when a broken sob leaves his mouth. His arms wrap around himself like he's trying to hold himself together.</p>
<p>This wasn't waking up in the middle of the night, all alone in his bed, left to comfort himself and be his own shoulder to cry on until he could fall back asleep. It pushed the boundaries and somehow went beyond his usual night terrors. Things were too specific, new details, different visuals, and sounds that hadn't quite been there before.</p>
<p>"You didn't let-- I just- I never meant to." His voice is hoarse and hard to understand, his breaths shaky. Yet he still tries to talk through it all. "I wanted to help. I wanted to-- I tried!"</p>
<p>He's trying so fucking hard to get himself back together again and keep his mouth shut, doesn't even know why he's saying anything. Why he's trying to explain himself in a dream, to a ghost-- or whatever the hell this all was.</p>
<p>"I tried, I did-" He chokes out. "You told me to stop. You said to go without you!"</p>
<p>His arms cover his head now as if he's trying to shield himself or hide, making himself appear smaller than he is, and wishing he could just disappear altogether. The guilt in him burns like acid, memories and mental images being brought to the surface all over again, ripping old wounds back open and digging into them still after all the time he's spent trying to heal.</p>
<p>It's only the sound of Josef's sobs and sniffling. It seems like he won't be met with a response again until there's now this quiet knock on the door.</p>
<p>"Open the door, please, Josef," Charlotte says again, and it sounds like she's begging, almost on the verge of tears. There's another knock that's a little harder than the last one. "It's cold. I'm cold. Let me in, Schatzi, please, I want to see you. Come hold me like you used to."</p>
<p>Josef doesn't know what to do. He's stuck sitting there in his seat, shaking and refusing to move his arms or get up. All he can do is cry.</p>
<p>"Let me in, Josefff," she pleads again, the end of his name slurring. "Come hold me. Make up for what you did-- for leaving me behind." She's repeatedly knocking now but still keeping it light. "You should have saved me. You know that you could have."</p>
<p>His hands cover his ears as hard as he can. It doesn't stop any of the sounds no matter what he does, and this point, he can't distinguish between what's in his head or not. All he knows is he wants this nightmare to end.</p>
<p>"𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘇𝗲𝗶𝗵 𝗺𝗶𝗿, 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘇𝗲𝗶𝗵 𝗺𝗶𝗿!" He abruptly cries out, his body still curled forward with his head lowered, and his teary eyes shut. "𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲! 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲?! 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆, 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲, 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆!"</p>
<p>A hand pounded on the door now, the sound loudly echoing as the room began to shake each time her fist made contact. Pens and pencils rolled and fell from his desk where they clattered to the floor, the lamplight rapidly flickering. Josef flinched and curled up a little tighter even though the room had gone still now.</p>
<p>"I'm dead because of YOU!" Charlotte screamed, the slurring in her voice more apparent. Her tone is deep and distorted, filled with rage as she started to hit the door over and over — no more kind pleas for his help.</p>
<p>"It's you! You're the reason I'm like this! Why I'm cold and alone!"</p>
<p>The lamp on his desk flickered once more before it went out, and the whole room began to go dark, twisting, and changing. Josef is sitting in his seat with his knees to his chest instead, his head down, and his arms wrapped tightly around his legs. He's doing his best to ignore it and block out everything else, thinking it will make it go away if he does.</p>
<p>His body is still shaking with barely contained cries, heavy breaths, and choked sobs. It's almost the loud, hysterical kind. Everything about this is unlike anything he'd ever experienced before, and he's helpless.</p>
<p>"Let me in! Come hold me, Josef! Like I know you want to! I know you still dream about it! Or are you going to sit there and cry?!"</p>
<p>There's a quiet trickle of what sounds like water once she's gone silent. Josef doesn't know what possessed him to look up, but he does, and it's only a small, terrified glance to see where the source of it was coming from; blood oozing under the doorway.</p>
<p>It slowly trickles and flows into his office, pooling across the floor and staining everything it touched. He immediately hides his face again, but he can still hear it flowing. The sticky, rotten smell that comes with it is so strong he nearly gags and has to keep his face buried against his arm.</p>
<p>It kept coming. Nothing stops until the room has flooded with it. If he were to put his legs back down, he'd be standing in a dark, stagnant ankle-deep pool of blood. Josef doesn't dare risk looking again. He didn't want to remember anything, didn't want to see her. This wasn't the loving, gentle Charlotte he remembers in life. This was something else, not human. It couldn't be.</p>
<p>"Just wake up." He tells him in a quiet, shaky whisper. "It's not real. It's a dream. Wake up, you're dreaming." Josef repeats it all like a mantra, trying hard to snap himself out of whatever this all is.</p>
<p>The room is silent save for the occasionally quiet bubbling of the liquid around him. Then it sounds like someone has stepped in a puddle on a rainy day.</p>
<p>Josef felt his heart skip a beat. He swallowed thickly around the lump in his throat, his fingers suddenly tightening on his legs in a white-knuckle grip.</p>
<p>Another splash follows with the sounds of tiny droplets splattering.</p>
<p>With a shiver running down his spine and a nauseating stir in the pit of his stomach, Josef realizes the steps are getting closer. She's coming towards him.</p>
<p>"God, no, please." A whimper escapes his mouth like he's in pain, a cornered and frightened animal. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry-- please, Lottie, I never wanted to leave you." His voice cracks again, another sob leaving him as tears stream down his face. "I should have taken your place. It should have been me. I'm sorry. I--" Josef can't get the rest of the words out through him breaking down, bawling like a small child. He hasn't even noticed that in the middle of it all, Charlotte was standing right in front of him.</p>
<p>"Josef..." Her voice says, gently.</p>
<p>Slightly damp, soft, and miserably cold hands reach down to cup Josef's head, forcibly pulling it back from its hiding place against his arms. She clamps bony thumbs over his temples and splays her stiff, decaying fingers at the base of his skull– tilting his head up to look at her. His face is splotchy and red, wet with tears, his bloodshot eyes filled with horror.</p>
<p>Charlotte's face, which had once been beautiful with a scatter of freckles across her nose and cheeks, looks moist and pale. Her once long, curling red locks were thin and scraggly, clumps of it missing from her scalp. Once vibrant blue eyes are replaced with a lifeless, milky colored stare. The one on the left is sunken into her skull more than the other, a grotesque fluid seeping from it. Pale, pink lips are gone; a large portion of skin pulled back and rotted away on the left side to show the exposed bone of her jaw. Some of her teeth are missing, others still stuck to the slick, putrid meat of what is left.</p>
<p>A gaping hole in the left side of her skull is clear to see, fresh and wet looking with bits of brain matter clinging to the cracked edges of bone shards. She wore the same clothes from the night she died, the colors faded, the fabric crusted and stained with dirt and dried blood.</p>
<p>"Josef..." She says softly again, the sight of her slimy tongue showing as she spoke. "Isn't this what you wanted? To see your beloved Lottie again." One of the teeth still loosely attached to her jaw wobbles with the movement of her speaking. It falls out and lands in the pool of blood below. </p>
<p>Josef's mouth opens, but nothing comes out. He's stuck sitting in the same position with her hands still holding his face in a vice-like grip. She bends down and kisses him right on his open mouth, all rotten flesh and bone. There's a wet squelch from the foul-smelling fluid, and her cold tongue works its way into his mouth.</p>
<p>The revolting, sour taste makes him retch, and he tries to scream violently, his body struggling against her hold as his hands come up without thinking first. They touch the back of her head, fingers accidentally sinking into the cavity as it caves, dipping into the mass of cold, clotted blood.</p>
<p>His eyes roll back in his head, and his body begins to go limp as his world fades black.</p>
<p>______________________________________________________________</p>
<p>It was early morning when Josef is found on the floor in the corner of his office with his back to the wall. He's huddled and curled into a ball, hiding his face and covering his head with his arms like he's still trying to protect himself.</p>
<p>One of his colleagues had to get someone from maintenance to unlock his door when there's no answer. He's unresponsive when they tried to talk to him, whimpering and muttering things under his breath, his body still shaking or flinching away from any small touch. Terror-stricken eyes seem to look right through them and stare at nothing in particular.</p>
<p>No one could make sense of what happened. The office is untouched, clean, and organized as always. But Josef is obviously in a state of severe distress. The same person who found him stayed with him while someone else called for the appropriate authorities.</p>
<p>They would come to his aid, and later there was sure to be another investigation at Gotham University, but no one would find a single trace left of the nightmare-inducing toxin.</p>
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